No. 3 – Get Carter (1971)

Title: Get Carter
Genre: Crime / Gangster Film
Running Time: 112 mins.
Director: Mike Hodges

Was it a must-see?

Confession: I was stalling this movie a bit because, other than the Godfather and Godfather II, I wasn’t into gangster films much. But then I thought, it was Michael Caine. And I’ve never seen a movie of his when he was younger. So I pushed play.

And then I pushed pause.

First line. FIRST line and I had to go searching for subtitles. I’m not saying this movie isn’t in english. It is. But it’s English english. I have nothing against that, but the actors in the first scene were hard to understand, especially since their vowels were sooo rounded and me being a Filipino, our language speaks vowels very flatly. For example, SPOILER ALERT for those who wish to watch this movie with virgin eyes: the first scene is Carter with his two crime bosses, watching a black & white slide show (yes, a slide show) of pornographic photos. And at that instant, I heard one of the bosses say, “Bottleneck Richard sucks on?”

I was like, wait a minute, yes, the girl in the photo was sucking “it” but who or what, the hell is “Bottleneck Richard”? Downloaded subtitles, adjusted it and found out this was what he really said, “Buck-naked with your socks on?” Mystery solved.

Anyway, let’s get back on track. I did a little digging, as I usually do after watching a movie (I don’t know why I do that), and found that this was Mike Hodges’ first feature film as a director and it was based on Ted Lewis’ 1969 novel, Jack’s Return Home.

I have to say, I really didn’t expect to like this movie. I once again judged it by its title, and its poster. And at first, I thought I was right. But when things started going, I found myself hooked in the mystery. Who? Who did it? What happened? And once I got to the last scenes of the movie, when everything was unfolding, I appreciated the time Hodges took to layout the characters in order to get that effect of things snowballing to the ending (in a good way).

There was a lot of nudity in this film. And true to the freedom of the 70s, it was raw, daring but it wasn’t the focus. I don’t know if you noticed it, but the nudity in 70s films or 80s too, maybe, were a little scandalous than films nowadays but classier. Maybe because they were treated as part of the story or the scene and no one was making a big deal out of it. Or maybe because the actors made it seem natural and not porn-like. I don’t know.

One more thing, I also didn’t expect to find Michael Caine sexy, but he was.

Did I learn anything?

Nothing philosophical or substantial. Just another realization that I might have missed out on great films because I judged it too early.

Best moment:

I won’t say what happened, but it was the very end, the very last scene that made me gasp so loud. A character that you easily forget, because he had like, 10 seconds of screen time and you don’t even see his face, suddenly makes an appearance at the very end and made the whole film.

Best line:

“Bottleneck Richard sucks on?”

I’m sorry, it has made an unforgettable impression.

P.S. I forgot to mention this, but this is another film where some of the credits were shown as part of the intro before the movie started. Was that a normal thing in movies back then? Looks like it.

Busy Weekends

You know that time when you set some goals, let’s say like dieting, and then your weekends just suddenly become so full of parties where you eat and eat and eat?

Well, I just had me a weekend away from home to visit some friends waaaay way south of Manila (I’m in the Philippines, by the way) and by the time I got back Sunday late afternoon, I was thoroughly spent and all my mind could take in for the rest of the night were reruns of Friends. So, any hope to watch some movies was gone. But I’m not worried about it, I got until Friday to watch some. And oh, I already have my next movie after Get Carter. It’s another French short film, A Day in the Country or Partie de campagne (1936).

And like I said, I only got until Friday. Another busy weekend is coming up and this time, it’s a beach trip plus a Father’s Day celebration.

Here we go!

No. 2 – The Ten Commandments (1956)

Title: The Ten Commandments
Genre: Epic film
Running Time: 220 mins.
Director: Cecil B. DeMille

Was it a must-see?

Before I go into detail, I have already picked-out my next movie and that is Mike Hodges’ Get Carter (1971). I love that I’m getting to watch films before the 90s. They are less familiar, more mysterious and so they make me more eager to watch. I generated a number even before watching The Ten Commandments in the interest of time. It took me a while to “get” my copy of this movie so I thought I’ll just “get” the next ones ahead, in order not to wait that long.

Now, for this movie. I’m sorry, this epic film. My first thoughts? The first scene you see is a text that says, “Overture” and you hear grand music for a few minutes. It was refreshing to see that they’ve given room for people to just hear the music chosen for the film. It sets the mood better and teaches the modern film-viewer something about patience. Certainly taught me. I never thought about it before but modern movies rarely give enough time for its accompanying music to breathe. Well, The Ten Commandments did.

It was also the first time that I watched a movie where the next scene after the overture featured a theater curtain, out of which the director himself came out to talk about the film before it started. Cecil B. DeMille struck me as a classic yet revolutionary thinker. Does that make sense? Maybe because the material of the movie is a classic story and yet the way he made it come alive in film was a revelation. And then, he said, “The story takes three hours and 39 minutes to unfold. There will be an intermission.” (And there really was, by the way.)

It got me thinking about patience again and taking the time to let the story feed your mind and letting the film breathe. Nowadays, a three-hour film isn’t considered that long anymore. Perhaps DeMille’s warning was necessary in the 1950s because three hours then meant too much. The world wasn’t as fast-paced and blurry then, I guess.

Another first is that the credits went on before the start of the movie, which I thought was considerate. At the end of the movie, you won’t care to read who worked for it. By the way, the ending was another text scene saying, “Exit Music.” I love it.

Anyway, I was already in bed, after a typical 8-5 workday when DeMille warned me of how long it was. I usually avoid sleeping late during a workweek but I had already started and stopping didn’t appeal to me. I thought, “It’s night, I’m in bed. Halfway into the first hour, I’ll be nodding off.”

Half-way into the second hour, I hadn’t blinked once. This movie just woke up something in my mind and kept me interested and unable to push the stop button. It makes me ashamed that the only work of Charlton Heston I ever watched until now was his guesting on Friends. He was simply brilliant as Moses. Would you believe I even had to force myself to stop the movie to continue the next day because it was almost midnight? And it wasn’t that it was a different take on Moses’ story. It stuck to the traditional, educated, long version, which bores many people, I presume. But oh dear, the dialogue, the acting, the wonders of technicolor. It was all so mesmerizing. Now I know why technicolor was such a big thing back then. It was a different world. Of course, my CGI-trained eyes (from watching movies, of course) knew when something wasn’t edited in as polished as our current technology allows. But putting yourself in the 1950s audience perspective, Wikipedia was right in saying that The Ten Commandments was DeMille’s most successful film. His last and his greatest.

This film is truly epic, truly deserving to be seen before you die.

Did I learn anything?

That Cecil B. DeMille is a splendid, intelligent director. One of my favorite authors is Ayn Rand and I only learned of DeMille through her biography. He was the one who gave her that chance (an extra in one of his films) that led her to where she got to. But I never sought to watch his films. Now I realize that was another crying shame.

Best moment:

A modern director wouldn’t waste numerous scenes on a part of the story that can be squeezed into one. DeMille took the time to portray exactly how the Israelites came out of Egypt, carrying their sick, their women, children, cows, geese, sheep, goats, carriages, their Egyptian spoils and even the bones of Joseph as a clamor of deep voices sang about him. Hundreds and thousands of Israelites, free at last from the bondage of slavery. That was best moment (not the parting of the Red Sea) for me.

Best line:

The best line wasn’t even in the movie’s script. It was in DeMille’s introduction:

“The theme of this picture is whether men are to be ruled by God’s law, or whether they are to be ruled by the whims of a dictator like Rameses. Are men the property of the state, or are they free souls under God?”

Number generators will decide my fate.

Okay. Now that my first movie is out of the way, it’s time to put some spin into this challenge.

As I’ve said, I will not be following the list’s order nor their chronological sequence. Instead, I’ll be using online number generators as a sort of lottery to decide which movie I shall watch next.

I’ll be using this list that assigned numbers to all the movies in the 2012 edition of the book (I love the internet) and watch the movie whose number is up.

So…time to spin the wheel!

My next movie is… (generating a number)

No. 563!

And that is… (looking through the list)

Ah ha!

The Ten Commandments directed by Cecil B. DeMille (1956)

Interesting.

Well, time to grab another microwave cheese popcorn. Yum!

Hmm…at this rate, my next blog will probably be about losing all the weight I’ll probably gain during this challenge, huh?

*putting down the popcorn*

Hello, celery sticks!

LOL!

Who am I kidding? Bring on the popcorn!

No. 1 – La Jetée (1962)

 

Title: La Jetée (The Jetty)

Genre: Short film, Post-Apocalyptic Sci-fi (France)

Running Time: 28 mins.

Director: Chris Marker

Was it a must-see?

 I guess this is a good a time as any to say that I won’t be following the movies in chronological order. There might be some benefits to that in terms of seeing the development of film-making through the years, how story-telling progresses or repeats itself, but again, this is not a movie review blog. If anything, this is really more aimed at educating myself (and perhaps others), developing a good taste in movies and discovering the extent (and failings) of man’s creativity. (whoa)

Anyhoo…

I thought it was perfect that I should start with a French film from somewhere between the 20s and 60s. I don’t know, there’s something about French films that feels sharp and original.

La Jetée was a good choice, I think. It was poignant, nostalgic with a good blend of romance and science fiction. If you’ve seen The Time Traveler’s Wife, this is that story in its most raw and untainted.

It’s also the first film I’ve ever seen that was told through still images. Black and white, all told by a narrator. I didn’t know, I didn’t think just having photos transition into one another could ever have more meaning than seeing the actors move. But here, it did.

It made me silent. And the images were so powerful that they alone make this movie a definite must-see. I’m happy I started with this.

Did I learn anything?

That stories revolve around time in a never-ending cycle but there’s no guarantee of recreating the emotions and thoughts that they originally intended to evoke. The story of La Jetée will show up again in our present and our future. Whether they make me feel like this again remains to be seen.

Best moment:

The girl in bed, covered in white sheets, still images of her sleeping fade in and out of the screen, one after another and then…her eyes opened, looking right at you and she was blinking and you realize you just witnessed the only part of the movie where filming the character and not photographing her made sense. It was sooooo…. *sigh*

Best line:

“Nothing distinguishes memories from ordinary moments. Only later do they become memorable by the scars they leave.”

Rien ne distingue les souvenirs de moments ordinaires. C’est seulement plus tard elles deviennent mémorable par les cicatrices qu’ils laissent.

The Challenge.

1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (2012 Edition)

Movies have always been both a source of comfort and stress for me. Comfort because when I watch the right kind of movie that suits my taste or current need, it helps me feel elated, inspired and just plain happy. Stress because I’m easily affected and films about murder or horror simply drive me to the wall. Also, I’m a “judge-the-movie-by-its-poster” kind of audience. If I don’t see anyone I recognize or I don’t like the general look of the poster, I don’t watch it.

This is a habit I’m willing to break.

You see, I love movies. I think the movie is one of the greatest achievements of man, aside from books. A movie can create a world on its own and take you through stories and lives in a way that no other media can.

Sadly, I find that nowadays, great movies are hard to come by, movies worth watching, movies that let you take away something worth taking away, worth remembering, worth keeping in your heart. Exactly how do you find them in the midst of movies that make you lose hope in art and creativity?

Enter the book: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.

I know. Some of the movies in here might not live up to the standard I’m setting. But I wouldn’t know that until I watch them one by one.

So here is the challenge: Watch all the movies in the list.

Just to warn you now, I have commitment issues with things like this so this is also an attempt to break that disheartening sickness. If I do stop part way, you’re very much welcome to curse my ass off because I’ll be doing the same. 🙂

Also, I’m putting this out there now, this is not a movie review site. I have exactly no idea what this is yet, but wherever it takes me, I only hope it’s somewhere good.

On to the first movie!

(loading up on my microwave cheese popcorn)